The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Afghanistan has urged for increased investment in education that is both safe and resilient to the growing effects of climate change.
UNICEF Afghanistan also reported that 110 schools in the country were damaged or destroyed by floods in the past year (2024), marking a significant impact on education.
In a report released on Friday, January 24, on its website, UNICEF stated that devastating floods in Afghanistan have disrupted the education of thousands of students.
The report highlights: “Children are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate-related crises, including more intense and frequent heatwaves, storms, droughts, and floods.”
Three years after the de-facto authorities took power, Afghanistan stands out as the only country in the world where secondary and higher education is strictly forbidden to girls and women. According to new UNESCO data published on Thursday, 1.4 million Afghan girls have been deliberately deprived of schooling. Access to primary education has also fallen sharply, with 1.1 million fewer girls and boys attending school.
“Today, Afghanistan is the only country in the world to prohibit access to education for girls over the age of 12 and for women. This situation must concern us all. The right to education cannot be negotiated or compromised. The international community must remain fully mobilized to obtain the unconditional reopening of schools and universities to Afghan girls and women,” the International Schools Associations (ISA) stated in occasion World Education Day.
According to statistics provided by UNICEF, in 2024, 242 million students across 85 countries faced disruptions in their education due to the consequences of climate change, including heat and flooding.
UNICEF also pointed out that one in seven students worldwide missed out on education last year due to climate-related challenges.
January 24 was declared the International Day of Education by the United Nations General Assembly in 2018.
